Rose fruits–rose hips–are small and pulpy but like other rose hips, edible and rich in vitamin C. It likes dry grassy slopes and riverbanks. Also called wood’s rose, it is found across all of the western United States where the habitat is suitable. The saponins in the root don’t make much lather, but they effective remove dirt. Seeds are usually in three columns within the seed pod and a moth will have eaten the centers out of every seed in one of the columns. Yucca glauca (and other yuccas) are pollinated by a specific moth who lays her eggs in the flower while transferring pollen, so the yucca moth maintains yucca by pollinating and feeds on it. The flowers, however, are edible to animals and people–often deer, pronghorns and elk strip the flowers off. The leaves are sharply pointed and fibrous–painful to bump into. Once called squawbush, Native Americans used the fruits in teas. This is the most widespread species in the genus. There are 24 other species of globemallow in the United States, with flower colors from richer orange to very pale orange. Coccinea means “red.” It grows well on somewhat disturbed sites. The long scientific name actually says “globe mallow” – sphaer for sphere (globe) and alcea is the name the Romans called mallows. Scarlet globemallow– Sphaeralcea coccinea. One of many natives that little is known about about, it appears to open its flowers at night and so be pollinated by not just bees and butterflies but moths. It is the host of the northern checkerspot butterfly, Chlosyne palla. The scientific name for this plant has recently been changed from Chrysothamnus nauseosus to Ericameria nauseosa, because it was determined to be distinctly different from all the Chrysothamnus species. Rubber rabbitbrush – Ericameria nauseosa. The plains prickly pear’s fruit is dry and withered when ripe. The third species is very much like the plains prickly pear but with only yellow flowers, pads that are often wrinkled and a fruit that is soft and “fruity” when ripe ( Opuntia macrorhiza, twist-spine prickly pear). A little bit larger and often with denser spines with brown tips. There are three species very similar species in this part of Colorado, one with pink, pinkish or orangy flowers ( Opuntia phaeacantha, tulip prickly pear, also called New Mexico prickly pear). Plains prickly pear may have orangy or pinkish flowers. The majority of cactus species are found in the southwestern US, Mexico and Central America, but a few species, mainly prickly pears ( Opuntia) grow quite far north. Cacti are endemic to the Americas, meaning they are native only here. Plains prickly pear – Opuntia polyacantha. Today it is found from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Its expansion westward is one of the best-documented stories of a plant invading North America. The root is edible, which is probably why it was brought over from Europe. Larkspur is because the flower with its long “spur” on the back of the flower looked like a bird’s foot. The scientific name Delphinium means “shaped like a dolphin” and refers to the unopened buds. It is mildly toxic, so horses on a pasture where all they can eat is bindweed will show symptoms of poisoning. The flowers only last a morning, closing in the heat of the day and never opening again. This perennial spreads quickly many feet with its long viny stems. Native.įield bindweed – Convolvulus arvensis. The tiny seeds are eaten by a variety of birds and mammals. The short stature (to 2’ (2/3 m) in a very good year, and habit of forming a clump make it distinctive. Asteraceae, sunflower family, The bush or little sunflower is an uncommon sunflower, found only in Colorado, Wyoming and Idaho. More about conspicuous late spring and early summer plants of Devil’s Backbone Natural Area near Loveland Colorado:īush sunflower- Helianthus pumila.
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